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Barr: Pay your petitioners

Over the years, I’ve met many libertarians in different places. In July 2000, it was my pleasure to drive from Texas to London, Ontario (yes, driving to the one in UK would have been more difficult) to meet quite a few. It was there at a conference of the International Society for Individual Liberty that I met Lynn Atherton and her husband Roger Bloxham.

As with most libertarian relationships, our friendship has waxed and waned. We’ve been out of touch for times, and back in touch at others. Nevertheless, we’ve always had a pleasant relationship, based on mutual respect and trust.

Among my many regrets with respect to my ventures in Somalia going so badly awry, due to NATO intervention, was not getting a chance to put Roger’s dry dock technology to work for mutual benefit. The airport we were planning near our sea port would also, likely, have gotten a visit from Roger in one of his home built airplanes. These things were not to be. Many of our conversations include reminiscences.

But, recently, one was about a friend of Lynn’s from Oklahoma. Angela O’Dell had been hired to do ballot access work for the Barr campaign in West Virginia. I gather she is owed several thousand dollars for work actually performed. Moreover, she had contacted Shane Cory of the Barr campaign, who attempted to assure her that she would be paid.

Thus far she has not been paid. Lately, she has come to regret her choice in not making an issue of this matter during the campaign. Happily, just because the election is over doesn’t mean that the Barr campaign wraps up and goes away. They still have money – possibly even some donations still coming in. After they pay their debts, my understanding of federal election law is that the candidate gets to put in his pocket the remaining money. I’ve no idea how much that might be.

Anyway, it seems likely that this obligation doesn’t go away even if the campaign does. So, I am doing my part to help Angela get her money. It is also my intention, here, to continue to make clear to the libertarian community what kind of a guy Shane Cory is. I think we all know he was asked to resign as executive directrix of the LP when he began campaigning against Mary Ruwart while still in his job. He did resign, though the payments to him didn’t stop. I don’t believe he was ever censured for his part in the Andrew Davis press release calling for more federal spending.

As well, I think we all know what Shane said to one of the Campaign for Liberty organisers after the Barr snubgate fiasco. Those words were “go f#ck yourself.”

So, I don’t think he’s much of a man. I doubt he has anything like honor. But, he does have other people to report to. And he might be shamed into paying Angela. That would be nice.

Obviously, she’s asked to be paid. She’s offered to accept a partial payment with more to come later. She’s tried to work with the campaign on a payment plan. It isn’t much money to them – they had money to spend on limousine services to quite a hefty figure. But it is a lot of money to her. And wouldn’t it be nice to see her get paid?

Volunteers and paid petitioners do a lot of the heavy lifting for this community. They go out and get signatures on petitions. They go out and get voters to register for our parties. They go out and face the cops in places, get arrested at times, and do a lot of actual physical work – manning tables, moving things around to set up petition tables, talking for hours on end to people who are interested. They are our faces to the public.

So it would really be nice to treat them decently. It is really shameful that wretched men like Shane Cory get to screw decent, hard working individuals like Angela out of their pay. It is fraud, it is theft, and it is initiatory force.

It isn’t like Shane can do the right thing at this point without apologising for his misconduct and making an act of contrition. He got paid by the campaign, right? For all we know, he was hired and working for the campaign while still executive directrix. We certainly know that he was acting on behalf of one of the candidates for the nomination while he was paid to work for all the members of the party. So we know he’s unethical and sleazy in this way. And we cannot expect that he’s missed a pay check from the Barr campaign.

Angela has suffered. She did the work to get the money, not because the work is grand, not because West Virginia is a desirable destination resort community, but because she needed the money. And she hasn’t been paid. That’s wrong. And it is Shane’s fault. Shane should not only apologise, he should reach into his pocket to pay her interest on the funds she has had to make do without.

For my part, I would like to see him crawl on his hands and knees over broken glass from his home to hers as a thorough going act of contrition. Since I don’t expect him to do so, I don’t intend to forgive him. But I’m tough that way.

There’s nowhere better than West Virginia, though. I’d have to say she should at least be glad she got to get ripped off in the best state in this country. :)

On a serious note, if this is true, I certainly hope that the campaign takes care of its debts in a timely manner. Have you ever tried to get paid for federal government contract work? It takes… a… while. Barr’s campaign may just be trying to be efficient like the government, or something.

I can DEFINITELY tell you a thing or two about not getting paid for your LP work.

But not so for Nader, Constitution Party, Green Party, Natural Law Party, Reform Party, Socialist and Black/White Party; those organizations are quite fiscally responsible when it comes to meeting their obligations with their creditors.

I’ve had very little experience with Republicans and have never worked for the Democrats, but it could well be said that the least fiscally responsible party in the U.S. is – the Libertarian Party.

I did not know that thing about Sean Haugh. This makes me even more curious about Angela Keaton’s enthusiasm for him. Said enthusiasm would, in turn, perhaps explain Mary Ruwart’s action the last LNC meeting voting for asking Angela to resign. Hmmm. The thought plickens.

George Phillies called me this evening. We talked Boston Tea and LP politics for the better part of an hour. George seems in very fine fettle. I get the impression that Brandon Kelly was inspired in part by Mary Ruwart to pursue having LP NH sue to remove Phillies from the ballot. The plot thickens.

“Jim Davidson
I did not know that thing about Sean Haugh. This makes me even more curious about Angela Keaton’s enthusiasm for him. Said enthusiasm would, in turn, perhaps explain Mary Ruwart’s action the last LNC meeting voting for asking Angela to resign. Hmmm. The thought plickens.”

Given that Angela Keaton has proven herself to be a liar and a backstabber as well as an irrational nutjob, her enthusiasm for Haugh is not really that suprising as birds of a feather tend to flock together.

Everyone’s experience is different. I have no knowledge of Angela lying to me. I don’t know what you mean by backstabber. The phrase “irrational nutjob” seems to be pleonastic. Would you say more about these accusations?

Riight. And we can trust the government to make sure that Shane Cory pays Angela O’Dell because the government has proven to be so competent and trustworthy all these years.

This sort of thing is exactly what I mean by a sick twisted disregard for individual liberty and a view that people are chattel amongst those who want to destroy and enslave my brothers and sisters in the LP.

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